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<p>SaveD is obviously joking, or making a point about the cult of concision.</p>
<p>r u being serious feuxfollet?</p>
<p>Hemmingway doesn’t use metaphors? Read “The Old Man and the Sea” again. It is one gigantic metaphor, much like what was being referenced in post #8. Come on people, you are supposed to be Dartmouth material!</p>
<p>@stmichael91:</p>
<p>I wish it were so. Easy way to please. Hahahaha.</p>
<p>I’m guessing Alaska would have trouble with Dartmouth 
(you have to read the book looking for alaska. one time her friend says to her “big giant whale is a metaphor for everything. you love pretentious metaphors” that book is like my epic 
)</p>
<p>And on the other hand, I wonder how the hell Edward Cullen would get in ^^</p>
<p>^“…look at my hot vampire six-pack and my vegetarian gold-plated skin…young girls have a fetish for touching my name on every single page of my book…my hair gives me super-emo blood-sucking strength…” (Direct Route). :)</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with being metaphorical (hell, college professors praise Plato to the wazoo). College admissions are not appropriate for metaphorical writing, however (for the most part).</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s Dean is screaming out that expository prose is a dying art. Hemmingway was a “great” author, but he could not write concise prose if you offered him a coctail. (Well, maybe he could, but he didn’t.)</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHA That’s all I have to say because that was awesome.</p>
<p>Atleast we know that his name is spelled “hemingway” and not “hemmingway”. That’s a start on our path to Dartmouth isn’t it?.. :P</p>
<p>"Admissions officer on left:
“We look at you as an individual student, we don’t compare you to others in your high school, others in your city or town, to others in your state, we really think about you as an individual applicant…we’re not comparing you to the kids sitting next to you in your high school class…”</p>
<p>Admissions officer on right:
“'I’m thinking about a student’s academic achievement … how do they stand out compared to their peers in their own high school…”</p>
<p>HAHAHAHA"</p>
<p>What they’re trying to say is that they don’t put your application next to other applications from your school and compare them. They’re telling you that they want to see that you stand out amongst your peers, but that in the admissions process, another student’s application won’t affect yours.
I think that they did a fantastic job with the video and answered many of the questions that prospective students have. What other schools have gone to the lengths that Dartmouth has to make the admissions process more clear for students, especially in this year’s cycle?</p>
<p>Also, about the essays… I think what she’s saying is that it doesn’t help your cause to try to be clever when you’re writing your essays. Just answer one of the prompts in a way that conveys something that you’d like to share about yourself.
Many of Dartmouth’s Writing 5 courses (required class for most first-years) use a writing handbook called ‘Style’. It’s pretty much the antithesis of flowery writing. My writing prof flat-out told us that many of us write to ‘sound smart’ and that it just ends up being dense. Many of my peers have said that writing used to be their strongest subject until Writing 5 came along. My point is that Dartmouth as an institution, not just admissions, seems to view writing differently or at least more critically than our high schools did.</p>
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<p>I do agree that many students use florid language only to impress and should first should learn how to get their messages across clearly.
Now, this is where I will disagree with Darthmouth. Florid writing, if done right and with careful consideration to diction and sound, can be beautiful and can convey several different ideas and emotions in one word. It should not be rejected completely in an academic system that praises colloquialism and stream-of-consciousness as legitimate writing styles.
The best writer will know which words, phrases, and style best represent and express the substance/the message. The pretender will stuff his writing with big words to hide the fact that there is no substance in the writing.
Finally, I will disagree with people calling Hemingway a bad writer. What he did effectively was he was able to convey emotions and paint beautiful pictures without the use of florid prose. The emotions relied heavily on the speed and the tempo of the phrases, as well as diction.</p>
<p><em>thumbs up</em> =) BCMAN</p>
<p>I think what the dean meant was this. Given that the applicants essays are read quickly by officers who daily read dozens, if not hundreds, of essays, clarity is paramount. If the meaning is hidden, instead of reflecting upon the applicant’s essay to discern something profound, the admission officer will move the whole application into the “unwanted” pile.</p>
<p>I completely agree with the Dartmouth rep. I’m not even an admissions officer, and I’m sick of reading these overly abstract, pretentious college essays on here and other places. There’s a huge difference between clear, good writing and over-the-top, pretentious writing.</p>
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<p>Amen. Not enough people realize this.</p>
<p>It’s not that Dartmouth disregards choice with regards to diction; it’s that the writer can achieve the same idea and depth of meaning with less words. The point is actually to choose your words more carefully so that you can accurately and concisely convey what you’re trying to say. So, yes, better writers do know the appropriate words to use, so they don’t need to bury their writing in flowery language to make the paper have the same effect. It’s not just “big” words – a major problem is syntax.
I will admit, it took me almost half a term to figure out what my writing prof was trying to tell us. I didn’t have the best writing class, but one major thing that I learned from the class is to be able to criticize your own writing as you would anyone else’s.</p>
<p>cgarcia you make me laugh!</p>
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<p>Cotte, I agree with you to a certain extent. Yes, better writers usually write concisely when they want to get their message across. This is important for college essays and analysis papers.</p>
<p>However, what I’m saying is florid language has its uses. The most important one, I think, is to OBSCURE the message (for stylistic purposes). Other times it is used to create a fantastical atmosphere, which plain prose just doesn’t do. Finally, sometimes florid prose is needed to convey certain emotions. “My trembling hands grew cold.” is more effective than “I became terrified.” Used in moderation and with careful thought behind diction and syntax, florid language can add some color to a person’s writing. Sometimes it is a preferred choice.</p>
<p>wait… what essay. -_-;</p>
<p>oh, the main common app essay?
whelp, then i’m screwed.</p>